Leni Riefenstahl's Feature Films and the Question of a Fascist Aesthetic

Schulte-Sasse, Linda

doi:10.2307/1354097

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Alongside national studies of fascism and fascist propaganda focussed on Germany and other countries with an explicitly “fascist past”, more universal studies have been undertaken into what Schulte-Sasse (1991) called the aesthetics of fascism. This category of historical work included inquiry into the way fascist organisations had used art, film, radio, publishing, fashion/uniform and other mediums in their propaganda outreach.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The propaganda of universal fascism: peace, empire and international co-operation in British Union of Fascists' publicity from 1932 to 1939

Thompson

2020

CCIJ

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PurposeThis article presents a historical investigation into the foreign policy messages of the British Union of Fascists' (BUF) publicity and propaganda from its foundation in 1932 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, along with a discussion of the methods and institutional arrangements used to propagate its ideas of peace, empire and transnational co-operation.Design/methodology/approachThe historical investigation is based upon scrutiny of original BUF documents relating to the period 1932–1939 from various archives. After cataloguing of the relevant publicity and propaganda materials in time sequence and thematically, analysis was organised using a historical institutionalism approach.FindingsThe article explains the different phases of the BUF's message development and how publications, meetings and media were used to project its ideas. It also discussed the impact of support from Viscount Rothermere's newspapers and financial support from Benito Mussolini. Consideration of publicity materials alongside files from BUF headquarters enabled identification and investigation into the communicative actors who did the publicity work, including Director of Publicity, John Beckett.Social implicationsThe article reflects upon how the British Union of Fascists' publicity and propaganda relates to modern manifestations of the communication of authoritarian and nationalistic political propositions and the historical continuities that endure therein.Originality/valueThe project makes an original contribution to the history of British political propaganda and public relations through an inquiry based upon scrutiny of historical documents in UK archives relating to BUF publicity related to foreign policy.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The propaganda of universal fascism: peace, empire and international co-operation in British Union of Fascists' publicity from 1932 to 1939

Thompson

2020

CCIJ

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“…While the involvement of artists happened on several levels, institutional, ideological, and aesthetic, it always contributed to the reality of dance and could not then and cannot now be neatly separated into aesthetic form on the one hand and politics or ideology on the other. Linda Schulte-Sasse—in paraphrasing the characterization of Nazism by Brecht and Benjamin as the aestheticization of politics—suggested that another element needs to be examined in the context of a fascist aesthetic (a problematic term as it subsumes Nazism under Fascism and thus is forced to gloss over the substantial differences) 3 : it can be detected only if there is a transgression of the “boundaries between the imaginary and real life and [the] aestheticization [of] the political through extradiegetic references” (Schulte-Sasse 1991, 143). This is an interesting though problematic approach as the “extradiegetic” cannot easily be identified in an art that considers itself a closed system, such as Laban's spatial theories or Wigman's “absolute dance.” The extradiegetic cannot infiltrate absolute dance; it will always remain superfluous.…”

Section: Does Nazi Art Exist?mentioning

confidence: 99%

German Gymnastics, Modern German Dance, and Nazi Aesthetics

Kant¹

2016

Dance Res. J.

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At the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Napoleon's French empire conquered much of Europe, the German patriot Friedrich Ludwig Jahn invented the first German national gymnastics program known as Turnen. The idea was to create a new German body and a new form of national discipline. Walking for bodily fitness, to instill national awareness, training on special equipment and rediscovering ancient German dance forms all became part of the new body culture. It is out of this movement with its nationalist and later racist culture that much of the modern gymnastics and dance movements in Germany gained their ideologies. This article sketches some stages of this social and physical continuity, from the resistance to the French to the establishment of the racial state in 1933 and to the provision of a Nazi aesthetic by German modern dancers.

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“…Glenn Infield, the author of a 1976 biography ofRiefenstahl, is among those who suggest that Riefenstahl became Hitler's mistress before becoming his filmmaker, and he describes Riefenstahl as holding the title, "at least unofficially, of 'Film Expert of the National Socialist Party '" (1976: 54). Conversely, other accounts of the filmmaker insist that Riefenstahl's relationship with Hitler was purely professional and that she was never a member of the Nazi film executive, simply a director commissioned to make films [Schulte-Sasse (1992), Kreimeier (1996), Hinton (2000)]. What is not debated is that, in 1933, Riefenstahl agreed to make a film depicting the annual Nazi party rally in Nuremberg.…”

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confidence: 99%

"Leni Riefenstahl simply will not go away:" an analysis of the media discourses about Hitler's filmmaker

Henderson¹

2021

Preprint

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Leni Riefenstahl will forever be connected to the political ideology of fascism and the images of Adolf Hitler and male strength and beauty she brought to the screen in Triumph of the Will (1935) and Olympia (1938), the contested masterpieces of her filmmaking career under the Third Reich. Now 100 years old and releasing her first film in almost half a century, she has remained a ubiquitous media presence for most of her life. In the 1 970s, an article in Newsweek began: "Leni Riefenstahl simply will not go away" and her media presence has only increased since that time ("Leni's triumph of the will" 11/29/76). More recently, in the past decade, Vanity Fair featured an interview with Riefenstahl and published Helmut Newton's photographs of her; lengthy reviews of her memoirs appeared in the New York Times, the Globe and Mail, and the Times of London; Ray Muller's documentary, The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl appeared at film festivals in New York and Washington, D.C.; and Jodie Foster's decision to make a film based on Riefenstahl's life was announced on CNN. This media attention prompted Eric Rentschler to describe Riefenstahl as "the Third Reich's most visible living celebrity and a constant object oflurid speculation, be it as 'Hitler's girlfriend,' a 'Nazi pin-up girl,' or a 'fallen goddess.' The spectacle of Riefenstahl has always made for good press" (1996: 27-8). This paper examines the media's enduring fascination with Riefenstahl by analyzing articles devoted to the filmmaker's life and work that have appeared in Western newspapers, popular journals and on the Internet over the course of the past three decades.

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Leni Riefenstahl's Feature Films and the Question of a Fascist Aesthetic

Cited by 8 publications

References 11 publications

The propaganda of universal fascism: peace, empire and international co-operation in British Union of Fascists' publicity from 1932 to 1939

The propaganda of universal fascism: peace, empire and international co-operation in British Union of Fascists' publicity from 1932 to 1939

German Gymnastics, Modern German Dance, and Nazi Aesthetics

"Leni Riefenstahl simply will not go away:" an analysis of the media discourses about Hitler's filmmaker

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